“SKIP THE JUVENILE DELINQUENCY AND GET RIGHT TO THE SEX”

By Raymond Benson

Kino Lorber and Something Weird Video continue their collaboration to present “Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of the Exploitation Picture” with Volume 10—Wages of Sin. Unlike the other exploitation titles that have appeared over the last two years, Wages is not an American picture; instead, it comes from Switzerland and was originally released as a serious drama examining the social problem of illegal abortions and the need to educate the public in birth control, as well as make a case for the legalization of a woman’s right to choose. The original German title translates to, roughly, The Doctor Says… or The Doctor Speaks Out…

However, American producer/director/actor Donn Davison, who at the time was a practitioner in the grindhouse and exploitation film circuit, secured the U.S. rights to the film and released it in 1966 with the salacious title of Wages of Sin. The movie was dubbed into English—although the dubbing actors speak with German accents, so go figure. Davison would appear in a “professional” capacity as a doctor (it is unclear if he really had any medical credentials) to provide a short lecture to the audience and hawk “how-to” sex manuals during intermission. Davison filmed his 15-minute presentation to show at drive-in theaters, where obviously he couldn’t speak in person. (This filmed lecture is included as a supplement on the new Kino Lorber/Something Weird disk, and it is hilarious. He tells us that we “may have seen him on Johnny Carson talking about juvenile delinquency and sexual matters… but tonight he’s going to skip the juvenile delinquency and get right to the sex.”)

These delicious and suitably sleazy pictures in the “Forbidden Fruit” series were made cheaply and outside the Hollywood system, and certainly in this case outside of the U.S. They were distributed independently in the manner of a circus sideshow, often by renting a movie theater for a few nights, advertising in the local papers, and promoting the scandalous title as “educational.” For adults only, mind you, but exhibited all in the good name of science or health or whatever.

Wages of Sin is such a serious and sincere take on the subject matter that it is mind-boggling to think that anyone would be titillated by it. One can imagine trench coat wearing patrons complaining to the theater management afterwards and asking for their money back, because there is absolutely no nudity or sex in the film. Instead, there is real, clinical footage of childbirth, frank talk about birth control, and dramatized depictions of back-alley abortions.

The story concerns well-meaning Dr. Maurer (Tadeusz Lomnicki) and his superior Dr. Diener (René Deltgen) as they deal with several female patients for various maladies regarding pregnancy, botched abortions, and childbirth. Some of the women’s stories end happily, but others are not so fortunate. Maurer is determined to get the illegal abortionists behind bars but also stop the insane law that criminalizes the women who receive the procedure. In short, the film, while melodramatic and a bit stodgy, has an important message that is still relevant today.

And yet, in the U.S., the picture was promoted with sensational taglines such as, “Shocking! Beyond Description!” and “No one under 16 admitted without parents!” Shocking indeed.

At most exhibitions of Wages of Sin, a second feature, The Misery and Fortune of Women (aka Frauennot, Frauenglück) was shown. This picture, from 1929, is also a Swiss production of the same ilk—a serious drama about pregnancy, illegal abortions, and childbirth—that was just as potent in its original year of release as today. In fact, it might be the better movie in the “package.” It was directed by Eduard Tissé, but the picture was “supervised” and co-edited by none other than Sergei Eisenstein (of Battleship Potemkin fame)! One can see Eisenstein’s influence, especially in the close-ups of faces.

The new Kino Lorber Blu-ray presents both features in high-def restorations and they both look remarkably good. Wages of Sin comes with an informative audio commentary by film historian Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, who brings a welcome feminine point of view to the proceedings. Supplements include the previously mentioned Donn Davison “lecture” and two shorts that were sometimes also exhibited with the two main features—Life and Its Secrecies (with clinical footage of various types of childbirth), and Triplets by Cesarean Section (a silent film of the real delivery of triplets). Both the latter short films suffer from poor visual quality, but it doesn’t make them less icky. Trailers from other Forbidden Fruit titles round out the package.

For fans of exploitation pictures, or for those interested in how the subject matter was handled both in 1966 and 1929, the Wages of Sin disk is for you!

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